Resources Archives - Page 107 of 145

Updated: Bible and Archaeology

Last year I recommended a visit to Bible and Archaeology, a virtual museum of artifacts related to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The site is significantly improved now, with a chronological ordering of 50 major artifacts connected to Scripture.

As before, the site features high-resolution images and helpful explanations. I appreciate Mike Caba’s work in creating a single resource where I can go when asked the question, “Does archaeology contribute to our understanding of the Bible?”

The site could also serve as the basis for a list of most important artifacts as well as provide inspiration for a lecture (or series) on archaeology’s value to the Bible reader today.

Baal figurine from Ugarit (Louvre Museum)

Tagged Museums, Resources

Weekend Roundup

In Old City Odds ‘n Ends, Tom Powers reports on the clean-up of Hezekiah’s Pool, repairs at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and construction in Solomon’s Quarries. He also lists some posts he hopes to write in the months ahead.

Luke Chandler has some new photos of Khirbet Qeiyafa.

Over on the Accordance Forum, David Lang asks whether commercial graphics collections are useful in light of Google Images.

Larry Hurtado highly recommends the Atlas of the Early Christian World (1958).

The reformatted Soncino Babylonian Talmud is now available online.

In recent weeks, Wayne Stiles has taken readers of his column at the Jerusalem Post to Masada and the Citadel of David.

A 64th tomb has been discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. (The tomb of King Tut was number 62.)

Some thieves were caught looting a site in the Judean wilderness near Tekoa.

The Harvard Semitic Museum is baking thousands of ancient clay tablets.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Resources, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Israel’s Biblical Landscape Reserve

Neot Kedumim is a treasure in the heart of Israel that too few visitors know about. This biblical landscape reserve is located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and includes 620 acres of trees, plants, flowers, and fauna that were common in Israel in the biblical period.

A new three-minute video does a great job of showing the park in its glory (HT: Biblical Flora).

I brought a group of seminary students to Neot Kedumim last week and it was a valuable time for all.

This is one of the few places where one learns with all of the senses. One could spend as little as two hours on a tour or as much as a week without seeing it all. If you have not yet been, you should put this site on your list for your next visit.

The books of founder Nogah Hareuveni are excellent, and I see that Amazon has a few used copies for very good prices (and some copies at very high prices):

Nature in Our Biblical Heritage (from $3.96)

Tree and Shrub in Our Biblical Heritage (from $2.86 and $9.99)

Desert and Shepherd in Our Biblical Heritage (from $84.97)

Neot Kedumim sells these books in their shop for about $30. Shipping is extra.

Tamarisk tree at Neot Kedumim, January 2012

Genesis 21:33 (NIV) “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.”

1 Samuel 22:6 (NIV) “Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him.”

1 Samuel 31:13 (NIV) “Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.”

Tagged Resources, Tourism

Q&A: Comprehensive Multimedia Teaching Materials

Question: I teach Sunday School to teens and plan on teaching adult Bible studies as well. Do you know of any comprehensive multimedia teaching materials that would cover all the books of the Bible, allowing me to read line by line from Genesis to Revelation and explain the spiritual meaning while also being able to simultaneously project photos, maps, charts, etc. relating to these scriptures to add depth to the teaching/preaching? –P.K.

Answer: A really good resource that does just this is Glo. I selected nearly 1,300 photos from my collections that were most relevant to each book of the Bible. Digital Immersion added hundreds of videos, charts, and graphics, all organized by biblical book and chapter. The software is very impressive, and remarkably inexpensive (~$60).

Readers who have other suggestions are welcome to post a comment.

Tagged Resources

Q&A: Printed Vintage Maps of the Middle East

Question: I was wondering if you know of any websites that sell maps of Israel (4 x 3 feet or so) for decorative wall mounting? I found some information about Palestinian Exploration Fund linen maps selling for $200-400, dating back to 1800s but that’s about it. I prefer a vintage look over a modern National Geographic look. If you have any leads, could you pass them on? Thanks! –J.K.

Answer: I don’t know of anywhere to purchase printed maps like these, but perhaps you could find some high-res ones online that you could enlarge and print. Because any created before 1923 are no longer under copyright restriction (in the U.S.), many are available online. I would recommend that you begin with the following sources:

http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/maps/pal/html/

http://jewishhistory.huji.ac.il/links/maps.htm

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/index.html

Another possibility is the collection of Survey of Western Palestine maps that we produced. These are very high resolution on the CD (~7500×6500 pixels) and in my archive I have even higher-resolution images available by request.

Readers who have other suggestions are welcome to comment below.

Survey of Western Palestine (1880), a section of Sheet 17

Tagged Resources

New Book: The ANE in the 12th-10th Centuries BCE

The proceedings of a conference at Haifa University in 2010 will soon be available in a 620-page book entitled The Ancient Near East in the 12th–10th Centuries BCE: Culture and History, edited by Gershon Galil, Ayelet Gilboa, Aren M. Maeir, and Dan’el Kahn.

Some chapters of particular interest to readers of this blog may include:

Walter Dietrich, David and the Philistines: Literature and History

Gershon Galil, Solomon’s Temple: Fiction or Reality?

Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor and Michael G. Hasel, The Iron Age City of Khirbet Qeiyafa after
four Seasons of Excavations

Moti Haiman, Geopolitical Aspects of the Southern Levant Desert in the 11th–10th Centuries BCE

Larry G. Herr, Jordan in the Iron I and IIB Periods

Victor Avigdor Hurowitz, Yhwh’s Exalted House Revisited: New Comparative Light on the Biblical Image of Solomon’s Temple

Dan´el Kahn, A Geo-Political and Historical Perspective of Merneptah’s Policy in Canaan

André Lemaire, West Semitic Epigraphy and the History of the Levant during the 12th–10th
Centuries BCE

Aren M. Maeir, Insights on the Philistine Culture and Related Issues: An Overview of 15 Years of Work at Tell es-Safi/Gath

Troy Leiland Sagrillo, Šîšaq’s [Shishak’s] Army: 2 Chronicles 12:2–3 from an Egyptological Perspective

Ephraim Stern, Archaeological Remains of the Northern Sea People along the Sharon and Carmel Coasts and the Acco and Jezrael Valleys

Christoffer Theis and Peter van der Veen, Some “Provenanced” Egyptian Inscriptions from Jerusalem: A Preliminary Study of Old and New Evidence

And there is much more.

HT: Jack Sasson

Tagged 10th Century, Jerusalem, Jordan, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah